Tampa Bay restaurant news, discounts and deals: Ceviche, Cigar City Brewing, Mise en Place

Words from the street, finding affordable food and cashing in on restaurant specials ’round our fair city.

The Happy News

• Ceviche Tapas Bar opens a new location in Clearwater where Tio Pepe’s used to be. Serves lunch and dinner.

• New gourmet burger joint opens in Carrollwood -  Burger Monger. Wagyu beef burgers and hot dogs, handcut fries, milk shakes and house-baked buns. They’re super active on Twitter too.

• Messineo’s Gourmet Market opened a couple of weeks ago in downtown St. Pete, at 179 1st Ave. North. Features grass-fed beef, local seafood and organic poultry. See pictures.

• Local goes national: Local brewery Cigar City Brewing makes Top 50 on Ratebeer.com with two of their beers, Zhukov’s Final Push Imperial Stout and Hunahpu Imperial Stout

• Brickhouse Tap and Tavern opened recently on North Dale Mabry Highway, in the former location of Johnny Carinos and Rio Bravo. Initial reports are the food is corporate chain average, the 70 beers are tasty, and the server chicks are hot.

• Emilio’s Bistro, Bakery and Bar in St. Pete (finally) opened July 7th. Moved up twice but that’s how it happens.

• Love’s Artifact’s Bar and Grill brings a ray of sunshine to an otherwise gray south of Gandy food scene. Housed in a former car lot and owned by the former car lot owner. Initial reports are tasty. Their Facebook Page.

• Koz Cafe and Lounge is opening in the old Alley Cats space on McMullen Booth and Enterprise. Chefs Petors Lampropoulos and Zacharia Hawi will be serving Mediterranean cuisine like kebabs and gyros, but also lamb chops and seared scallops.

• Although I’ve heard essentially no fanfare about this place, a new taco place opened in downtown Tampa called Rojo Taco. Urban Spoon raters like it though, for what that’s worth.

• Addition to Ybor City:  The guy who brought us Skatepark of Tampa expands into the cafe, bar and coffeehouse world with Bricks of Ybor on 7th Avenue in Ybor City. Their Facebook page.

• Lagniappe Bistro opens in St. Pete. French Creole cuisine arrives in the ‘Burg, but hours still limited to lunch?

• Restaurant news: Bella Brava in St. Pete closed its Central Avenue doors and will open in late August in some swanky digs on Beach Drive. 

The Sad News

• I was one of the first to report this incredibly sad news:  Chez Bryce on Davis Islands shuttered its doors last week. More on this.

• Restaurant closure: Chateau France in downtown St. Pete will be closing in August, since Chef Antoine will be opening a restaurant in the Bahamas. Not a bad exchange. He’s currently selling his wine inventory off at 50%.

The Tampa Bay Restaurant Deals and Discounts

• Free Ice Cream at Outback Steakhouse. In honor of National Ice Cream month (who knew?), Blue Bell will be giving away scoops of vanilla at the Henderson Blvd. Outback Steakhouse on July 23rd from 5- 8 p.m. More info.

• $5 burger Mondays at Green Iguana, 1/2 pound burger plus fries. Facebook page.

• Friday Night at Mise en Place has 2-4-1 appetizers at the bar from 5:30 till 8 p.m and a fantastic wines by the glass list.

• Toasted Pheasant Bistro in Carrollwood. Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Toasted Pheasant offers a 2-course menu for $13.99 from 5 – 7 p.m. The return of the Early Bird?

• Grillsmith New American Cuisine offers $5 select appetizers and half-priced cocktails, draft beer and select wines every Wednesday night, from 4 p.m. ’til closing at the bar and on the patio,

• Every Wednesday, grab a bottle of wine at Bin 27 Bistro in Tampa for 50% off. Ideal order: Flash fried oysters and a bottle of the Airlie 7, a luscious white blend from Oregon.

• Restaurant deal at Suro Restaurant and Sushi Bar in Oldsmar. On Thursdays, they offer half priced sushi from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• 2-4-1 beverage deal at Savannah’s Cafe in St. Pete. Mention that you follow them on Twitter and you can get 2-4-1 cocktails, wine and beer on Tuesdays.

• Progressive dinner at Casa Tina, Pan y Vino and Cabana Cafe. For $29.95, take a walking tour of three restaurants in Downtown Dunedin: appetizer and wine at Pan y Vino, entree and drink at Casa Tina’s and dessert and coffee at Cabana Cafe.

Want to hear about this kind of news and deals when it happens? I contribute ten new Tampa food/wine/drink items every Wednesday afternoon on TampaPlanet.com.

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